1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for drying outerwear, and more particularly to a lightweight, portable drying apparatus which naturally, uniformly and quickly drys footwear and small items of apparel such as shoes, hats, gloves and scarves after they have been wetted.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are a variety of drying devices which have been developed over the years to decrease the drying times of footwear and small items of apparel. A sample of three different types of drying devices and their respective limitations are described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,707, entitled "Portable Boot Drying Apparatus," issuing to Chu, discloses the use of an apparatus for supplying a flow of heated air to the interior cavity of a pair of ski boots. While this device lends itself to portability due to its small size, there are several problems with using such a device for drying footwear. One problem is that the device is limited to boots and can only dry one pair at a time. Another problem is that heated air regularly applied to footwear made of material such as leather and/or plastic compromises the material of the item, causing it to harden, crack or fade in color. Consequently, the life of the footwear is shortened every time it is dried using this device.
It is well known in the art of drying that articles of apparel, such as leather, naturally dry from the outside inward. Consequently, by directing a concentrated flow of air into only the inner areas of the footwear, such as an inner shoe cavity, the item dries unnaturally and unevenly from the inside outward leaving unattractive water spots on the outside material of the apparel, or leaving the outside entirely damp.
Finally, this invention requires attaching an external hair dryer to the body of the device, and mounting the hair dryer in close proximity to the wet articles. Such a configuration presents the serious safety hazard of electrocution making it particularly unattractive for situations where children might be the ultimate user of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,181, entitled "Shoe Dryer," issuing to Acosta, Sr. et al., discloses the use of a drying compartment which utilizes the exhaust heat from a conventional clothes dryer to dry shoes. As discussed above, the use of heated air to dry footwear and small items of apparel severely limits the life of the item and therefore the appeal of using such a device. Furthermore, the use of this device is quite limited in that it must be used in conjunction with a conventional clothes dryer. Consequently, this device is not portable to remote locations and may be limited to adult use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,188, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Drying Footwear and Handwear," issuing to Franz, discloses the use of a blower assembly and central tube extending up from the blower assembly for directing air into a tree-rack for contact with the wet or damp apparel. This device utilizes either heated or ambient air to dry the footwear or handwear. The problem with this device is threefold. First, this device drys footwear and small items of apparel unevenly and unnaturally from the inside outward as described above. Second, the device is heavy, bulky and cumbersome making both storage and portability difficult. Finally, mounting the footwear or handwear on the open tree-rack for drying creates a messy unattractive environment if the footwear and small items of apparel are dirty or muddy. Because the apparatus is not self contained, excess water and/or mud will flow down the tree-rack onto the base of the blower assembly and floor creating an unattractive environment, and possibly a severe safety hazard.